Carpenter's Lady

Chapter 57

On the 29th, Ding Da accompanied Xianglan back to the house. The pork stall had been closed for the past few days. The remaining pork from the previous purchase was reserved for marinating at home, for the wedding banquet, and for the father-in-law’s family. sold out.Ding Da's pork stall has been raining and raining all these years, and it suddenly stopped selling meat. The residents of the town are a little uncomfortable. No, Aunt Liu, the housekeeper of the Cheng family, found the bamboo shop.

"Aunt Liu, when my uncle comes back, I'll let him go to your house, it's only a day!" Zhang Mu smiled while sending Aunt Liu out.Unexpectedly, the Cheng family was so extravagant that they would slaughter a pig in two or three days.

"Hey, I'm sorry to trouble you with a word. My young master's tongue is so slippery, so he decided that Ding Da killed the pig. Others killed him. I don't know how he ate it. He vomited it as soon as he got it in his mouth." !" Aunt Liu smiled, but also called the young master a prodigal in her heart, so tricky to this extent!
Zhang Mu understood the key point, she also discovered early in the morning that Ding Da slaughtered the pig's blood and drained it cleanly, and the meat he cut was not stretched, it should be cut according to the pig's veins.Seeing that Aunt Liu couldn't help complaining, she said with a smile: "One person is blessed with another person. The young master grows up in a rich family like the Cheng family, so he should be a bit tricky with his tongue."

When he got to the door, Aunt Liu stopped Zhang Mu and said, "Young lady, don't be polite, you can go back and greet the business!"

"Hey, go slowly, Aunt Liu! After a few days, I have to pay New Year's greetings to Mrs. Cheng!"

Aunt Liu patted Zhang Mu's hand and left with a smile.

Zhang Mu held the note in his hand, staring at Aunt Liu's back in a daze.Slightly unfolded, on a small piece of paper about an inch wide, four words were extremely scrawled.

drowning coma
The candied haws sellers on the street were still yelling, and the sturdy haystacks tied to the ends of the bamboo poles were tied tightly with candied haws. The hawthorn fruit wrapped in rock sugar looked even more red and gorgeous. Zhang Mu couldn't help but pursed his lips. Now as long as I think of sour and sweet things, I will secrete a lot of saliva. They say sour and hot, and I don't know if this baby is a boy or a girl.

Looking at the bustling streets, since ancient times, when the New Year comes, there are always many people coming and going on the street to make New Year's goods. This year, there is no house, so she can save a lot of time by spending the New Year with Ding Erye and his wife.

Feeling the one-foot-wide "Fu" character pasted on the door in the past, I don't know if my brother wants to write "beautiful mountains and rivers, beautiful scenery, good life and many happy events", last year he clamored to write, she Both my sister and my sister complained that there was a strong smell of earth, so my brother had to change it.

"Amu, it's cold outside, come in!"

Ding Erniang had just sold a set of low bamboo chairs, when she saw her daughter-in-law standing at the door blowing in the air, she couldn't help calling out.

Hearing the sound, Zhang Mu turned around with a smile on his face, walked towards Erniang Ding, and said with a smile: "Looking at the candied haws outside, I feel a bit greedy, so I can't help but take a second look!"

"Hey, you can't eat that stuff recently, bloody one, you have to be more stable in the first three months."

Zhang Mu couldn't help sticking out her tongue, she had forgotten that hawthorn promotes blood circulation and clears blood stasis.

Ding Erniang saw that her daughter-in-law was a little shy, so she didn't want to talk too much, so she smiled and said: "Pregnant women are more greedy than usual. At that time, let alone candied haws, even if the child gnawed on the candy, I couldn't move. Way to go, hurry up tomorrow, I will ask your father to ask someone to bring you some fresh fruit from the county!"

Zhang Mu looked at the enthusiastic mother-in-law, and was at a loss for words for a while. She and her husband-in-law hadn't told the old man about moving to the county seat. After taking a look, there were still a few women in the store picking things, so he didn't say anything. Help I went to say hello.

In the afternoon, the sky suddenly turned cloudy, and a strong wind blew up, but there were still many people on the street. When Ah Zhu came back, the shop was full of people, and Wu Ling and Ding Erye also came Come forward and help.Ding Erniang was a little dizzy from being busy, and suddenly saw a young gentleman coming in, she only felt that the clothes were familiar, but after a closer look, she found that it was A Zhu. The 13-year-old Xiao Langjun is growing up, and the pressure of studying and preparing for the exam is great. This time, he looks thinner than what he saw at the foot of the mountain half a month ago. Ding Erniang touched Azhu's thin shoulders , did not speak for a long time.

At [-] o'clock, Ding Erye took A Zhu and Wu Ling to Shuiyang Village to pay respects to the ancestors, and when he came back, he began to post couplets. The words were written by A Zhu. A little bit of momentum, and the movement of the pen is quite good.

The reunion dinner in the evening was very rich, with six cold dishes: five-spice beef, barrel chicken, octopus in red oil, cucumber with garlic, celery mixed with ginger, and ten-spice ruyi vegetables.

The beauty was walking around in the kitchen early in the morning, smelling the aroma, as if she couldn't control her little paws, she wanted to climb onto the pot, Zhang Mu couldn't see it, and asked Wu Ling to carry it into the room to close it.Before leaving, the beauty looked at her master resentfully!

"Meow! Meow!" If life is just like the first time you see it, what is Xifeng's sad painting fan?

Ah Zhu was shocked suddenly, why did he see this cat reciting a poem!
When the hot dishes were served, Ah Zhu sang the name of the dishes while serving them, "Bamboo is here!" Zhang Mu couldn't help but came back to take a look. She bought the dishes with her mother-in-law, and she didn't buy bamboo shoots. Seeing the snow-white ones There were two rings of bamboo-jointed shrimp neatly placed on the porcelain plate, and some heated garlic paste was added on top. I couldn't help asking the mother-in-law next to me, "Mother, what is the name of this chestnut roast chicken?"

Ding Erniang looked away from the vermicelli that was rolling in the pot, glanced at the plate of chestnut roast chicken, and said with a smile, "Don't listen to his nonsense, that pot of bamboo-jointed shrimp has been rising steadily last year! This chicken Last year he reported auspicious wishes, but this year I don't know what to talk about!"

Sure enough, after a while, Ah Zhu picked up the pot of auspicious wishes and sang, "Good weather, good harvests!"

Then Zhang Mu saw that Azhu reported the sweet and sour carp to "Carp Jumping over the Dragon's Gate", cabbage tofu became "Hongfu Qitian", and roasted pork ribs with sauce became "icing on the cake". He watched Azhu bring up another bowl of red For the vermicelli beef in soup white noodles, Zhang Mu couldn't help wondering what the name of the money skewer was in the mouth of the second-year-old Azhu!

"Longevity and longevity!"

"Didn't last year's Jiuniang Lantern Festival mean longevity?" Ding Erye made incense for his ancestors, and when he came over and heard his son yelling with vermicelli and beef, he couldn't help wondering.

"Hey, Dad, I gave Jiuniang Yuanxiao a good name this year, just wait!"

Ding Erniang blinked at Zhang Mu, Zhang Mu looked at Azhu who was running around in a hurry, and felt very happy, no wonder Xianggong and Ding Erye's family were like father and son, Azhu was like this With a nonchalant temperament, only a generous family can raise such a carefree kid!Thinking of the past few nights when Ah Ling had to touch her belly with joy before going to sleep, as if she had gold and silver in her belly, she felt some anticipation, there were still seven months left.

Waiting for Ah Zhu to report "Lin'er Announces Good News" to a bowl of wine and glutinous rice balls!Zhang Mu almost choked on his saliva.

Ding Erniang on the side smiled and said: "Don't say it, this is very appropriate. The white balls are not like a fat and white boy! It's just that he has a different name from Ah Ling!"

"Mother, you don't know, it's Brother A Ling who came to announce the good news!"

Wu Ling, who was busy arranging the dishes, couldn't help laughing too.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, Wu Ling proposed to move to the county in the coming year. As soon as Wu Ling said the words, Ding Erniang laughed: "We are going to talk to you about this, I didn't expect you two to speak first !"

Wu Ling asked in a daze: "Father, mother, we are all gone, what about this shop?" Parents had always regarded this shop as their lifeline before.

"You and Azhu are both in the county. It's no point for us old couple to stay here. Anyway, even if there is no such shop in the future, can you two brothers afford us a bite?" Second Master Ding said leisurely, holding his wine glass.After a trip to Taizhou, he understood that no matter how much money there is, it can't be as happy as having children and grandchildren around their knees.

Wu Ling and Zhang Mu didn't dare to think that the two elders would be with them at first, so they were overjoyed at the moment, Zhang Mu hugged his mother-in-law's arm and said with a smile: "In the future, I will feel more at ease when I have my parents in charge!" No Speaking of human relations, even if she is pregnant and has multiple people in the family to take care of her, she can feel at ease.

On the second day of the first lunar month, Wu Ling accompanied Zhang Mu back to her mother's house, and brought up the matter of moving with Zhang's family. Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but get red-eyed, and sighed, "It's not easy for you to see each other in the future!"

Zhang Mu said comfortingly: "Mother, when the farming is slack, A Ling and I will come to pick you up and live there for a while. Don't worry, I still count on you to help me take care of the children!" It is not easy for the child to be brought up by her husband's family. Mrs. Zhang also knows that her daughter said words of comfort to her, but she also feels a little bit of comfort in her heart. This person is old, and he is afraid of being rejected by his children.

When Zhang Mu and Wu Ling were about to go back, Mrs. Zhang stuffed a package for her daughter and said, "Your grandma asked me to give it to you. She said it was some recipes."

Zhang Mu heard that it was Grandma Fang, so he didn't think much about it, but everyone was very strange these two days, and they all liked to stuff things for her secretly. Thinking of the four words on the note that Aunt Liu gave, "falling into the water and coma" !Presumably, it should be Zhao Wen who hasn't heard anything about it for the past few days, but what she doesn't understand is, why did Mrs. Cheng tell her this?
Before the fifth day of the lunar new year, word spread in the town that the son-in-law of Li Xiucai's family came back from outside, and was driven to the Shuiyang River by a thieves at night. Her face was already purple, and she was sent to Li Xiucai's house in the middle of the night.

When it reached Zhang Mu's ears, she knew it wasn't a thief, but was sent by the Ye family's uncle. The lady of the Ye family grabbed Chu Rui's braid and shouted that she wanted to divorce Chu Rui, but the Ye family's uncle was furious. , wanted to kill the culprit, Zhao Wen, but, unexpectedly, Zhao Wen was fatal and was saved by the Cheng family.

But what Zhang Mu didn't know was that the widower surnamed Bai married by Wang Moli was the one who rescued Zhao Wen. On the shore, he saw a figure flashing in front of his eyes.He heard someone say, "Why do you look like the son-in-law of Li Xiucai's family!"

"The ex-husband of the carpenter lady?"

"Well, isn't it him? He hooked up with Li Xiu'er in order to become a student of Li Xiucai's county magistrate. I heard from the youngest son of the housekeeper in the village that the little lady of the carpenter's family is quite kind."

The stepdaughter often clamored to go to Ding's house to play. He had lived alone for many years and married a gentle and timid daughter-in-law. When it really hurt, he knew that she and Zhang were sisters. Looking at the splashing water, No sound.

Everyone was discussing in full swing, and when they saw the boss standing leisurely under the lantern, they understood everything.

So everyone saw that Zhao Wen lost all strength in his thumping hands under the water, and the water surface was almost silent, so they fished him up with the big fish net.

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, not to mention splashing in the water for a long time, even if the clothes were soaked in the cold rain, he would get a cold. Zhao Wen, who was soaked by the river water, saved his life, but his legs were frozen and he was useless. up.

Mrs. Zhao, who had been lingering on the sickbed for half a month, saw her son's bruised face, but she seemed to recover all of a sudden.

However, Li Xiu'er made a fuss about reconciling and leaving.

Not to mention the Li family's affairs, but the Zhao family's affairs, Zhang Mu and Wu Ling no longer cared about it.

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Ding Erye and Ding Erniang took Wu Ling and Zhang Mu to the county seat, and Azhu hurried back to the academy after the fifth day of the lunar new year.Except for a few quilts and clothes, many of the family's belongings remained, and the shop was also left to Uncle Ding. It was agreed that Ding Da would go to the county every seven or eight days to bring back the goods.

Sitting on the thick carriage, Ding Erniang looked at the town that was gradually going away outside the window, her eyes blushed. She had spent more than twenty years here, half of her life here.

Zhang Mu felt a lot of emotions in her heart. Her first thought in time travel was that many entanglements and disputes were left here. In the future, she and her husband will start a new life without the mess of the past.

(End of this chapter)